The Scarlet Sword
by bubbyqureshi
Summary: This is an alternate story of Navarre and how he started. Lena enters the war stricken kingdom of Archanea and finds a young boy with a very certain set of skills. Can she train this boy to be the kind of soldier she needs, will he be able to achieve her goals, or will everything fail?
1. Chapter 1

The kingdom of Archanea was always a lively and beautiful place. Its streets were always filled with people walking to work in the mornings, street performers, small stands selling roasted snacks on the roadside, and children playing ball up and down the street. It was a happy place where the sun never stopped shining. How Lena wished that this were still the case…

As Lena continued walking towards this old prosperous kingdom, all she could see was death. Nobody was walking the streets, instruments lay broken and abandoned, windows were shattered, walls were cracked, food stands turned into rubble, and one deflated basketball rolled uselessly down the twisty footpath. War had struck the kingdom of Archanea, leaving it bare and hollow. The Kingdom of Dolhr had invaded and destroyed everything.

Lena continued down the well worn footpath towards the cathedral. _Maybe there are survivors in there_. Knowing that there must be guards inside the cathedral Lena opted to entering through the broken window, rather than the front doors. Lena had to fight back tears when she entered the cathedral. It was destroyed from the inside, pews either broken or shoved to the far corners of the building, the once luminescent stained glass windows now lay shattered on the marble floor. This however was not the worst part. At the front of the cathedral, being guarded by armed soldiers were the survivors. Nobody that could fight back, they were just farm workers and their families. They were probably kept alive so that they could make food for the Dolhrian army.

Lena carefully traveled along the wooden supports webbing the inside of the cathedral about 400 feet above the ground. She surveyed the scene beneath her, she could not take all of those soldiers on at once, that would be suicide. But that was the only way she could free the prisoners. Suddenly a small silver object whistled by, cutting an eyelash as it passed. Lena stared in awe as she watched the object insert itself into a guard's neck, not long after that guard fell to the ground dead. The other guards rushed to his aid. Struggling to understand what had happened to their then two more silver objects whistled passed Lena's face and embedded themselves into the necks of two more soldiers.

Lena quickly whipped around to see who the attacker was, using her arm to shield her neck as she did so. What she saw sent chills down her spine, tickling their way to her fingertips and making it difficult to keep a steady hold on the ledge she was balancing on. There in front of her stood a young boy, maybe around 9 years old, dressed in only a pair of ripped trousers. He stood perfectly balanced on the small support, his hair was long and of a spruce color, his face was a pasty white, he was incredibly skinny, his skin barely hiding his ribs beneath them and in his right hand were silver sewing needles. If it wasn't for the steady rise and fall of the boy's chest, Lena would have thought she was looking at a ghost.

The boy raised his right arm, holding up his last four needles. Lena ducked out of the way just in time for the boy to impale the last four guards with them. Below them, the prisoners looked around in astonishment at how one by one the guards were falling dead. In a chaotic rush, everyone ran for the exit, rushing out of the cathedral as fast as they could and trying to get as far away from the soldiers that lay on the ground as possible. Hearing the soft footsteps of the little boy walking away from her, Lena spun around on her ledge to face him. This however caused her to lose her balance and before she knew it, she felt a drop in her stomach and was weightless. Feeling a scream build up in her throat, Lena shut her eyes in fear of the inevitable. But it never came, instead she felt an ice cold grip on her wrist. Lena looked up at her rescuer and found that it was none other than the little boy, he was laying across the supports, one hand securing himself on the loft and the other was around Lena's wrist. With a small grunt, the boy hoisted her up and set her down on top of the supports. Instinctively Lena reached out to brush the little boy's bangs out of his eyes as she thanked him. "You saved my life! I am so thankful and-" Lena stopped suddenly when she saw the boy's eyes. They were grey and there was no life in them. The boy stared blankly back with absolutely no emotion.

"W-who are you?" Lena asked nervously. The boy looked deep into her eyes with his own blank ones, staring straight into her soul. "My name is Navarre," the boy said plainly before turning and walking off.

 _He had the eyes of a killer, and yet he was so young. There was absolutely no life in his eyes. This "Navarre" child had no shame, pride, seemingly no emotions at all!_ Just then, Lena felt a smile tugging at her lips. _This may be just the child I was looking for._ Lena thought, rushing out of the cathedral after the young boy.


	2. A Mercenaries Life for me

_15 years later…._

I love my job, it's exciting, it's exhilarating, it's freeing, it pays very handsomely, and no two work days are the same. Despite all of that, my job is not for the faint in heart. In fact, it's not even for most tough people. What is this job you may ask? Well, I'm a mercenary. You gotta be something else to earn success with this job, let alone enjoy it. Lots of people say that successful mercenaries are not even human, we just ghost around the world looking for jobs. That we carry no emotion, no love, anger, guilt or hope. It was this notion that started a movement in the mercenary community to create titles, rather than using their real names. Something about "Joseph the mercenary" didn't sound right to the clients, and the clients are everything. Without them, we couldn't get paid! I heard many titles in my time, such as The Viper, The Cyclops, The Broken Hatchet, The Black Widow, or my favorite The Stinky Boot. Rumor has it that Mr. Stinky Boot was named that because he never takes off his favorite pair of shoes, even when he sleeps.. No wonder they call him "stinky". But me? I am one of the elite mercenaries, I have been in the game for longer than most of them. A verteren if you will, I am called The Scarlet Sword.

The funny thing was, I didn't come up with that title. I was just going to use my name, it was mysterious enough. Plus I didn't have anyone at home to connect my name too, I am the only one. No friends and no family, and I would like to keep it that way thank you very much. The name was given to me by my clients, apparently those who who are unfortunate enough to have a bounty that I am collecting, all had one statement in common. That I moved so quickly it looked like just a blurry red sword coming down on them. The Scarlet Sword was not the only name that my clients came up with, despite it being my favorite and the one that I answer to. They also came up with "The Bleeder" due to the fact that I wear all red and therefore anyone who was lucky enough to even scratch me, wouldn't see any blood as it would blend with my clothes. Yea… I don't and will never answer to that name, it makes it sound like I have some kind of blood clotting issue and I'll just bleed out and die from a bloody nose. I'll stick to The Scarlet Sword.

Let me tell you about one of the biggest perks of my job, the financial aspects. Now the way mercenaries work is that there is no office where we all work together and get an equal pay. Most mercenaries have never met each other in person and have only "met" by reading about each other in the newspapers. There is almost no way for a mercenary to contact another, we do not carry any sort of communications device. If we did, the authorities would easily track us. Mercenaries only communicate in person or through letters. These letters by the way do not come to our homes, we all have another safehouse where all of our mail gets delivered or our meetings with clients are held.

As I said there is no equal pay either. Every mercenary gets a rank that correlates with their skill and success rate. The higher the rank, the more the pay. Each rank has a specific amount of spaces that can be filled, for example if you lived in a really poor village and needed protection from a handful of bandits. You could call a level 8 mercenary who would do that for you at a lower price. Each rank only has 4 spots and there are only 8 ranks. 8 being the lowest and 1 being the highest. The top three ranks are very specialized and near impossible to get in, but once your in you are set for life. Rank 3 only has 3 spots, right now there are 2 ex military men and one sociopath. Rank 2 only has 2 spots that currently hold a crime lord and a mysterious woman who was trained in ancient hoshidan ninja arts (seriously). Rank 1 is the best of the best, any mercenary in this spot can do pretty much anything. There is only one spot in this rank and it is occupied by yours truly. I have been in rank 1 ever since I was 18 years old. I am still rocking the top spot at 24.

As you can imagine, mercenaries get more and more expensive the higher the rank, plus different jobs also have different prices. These rankings are always made available for the public to see, along with an address to send letters, and a message board to pin jobs up for any mercenary to take.

The typical day of a mercenary goes something like this, you wake up, go to your safehouse, and check your letters for jobs, if so appear at the meeting place set by the client and get to work. If there are no letters, then you can go into town to look at the message board to see if there is anything there for you to do.

There is always stuff to do on the message board, new things come up everyday. The jobs on the message board are basic things that do not really have due dates or that need to be completed quickly and since the message board is in public, any mercenary can take any job. Most of the time, clients do not meet the mercenary that answered their message until the job is done when they come to collect their payment. A letter sent to the safehouse is different. If a client sends a letter, they send it to a specific mercenary to do an urgent job that requires their skill set to complete. In this situation, the client leaves their address in the letter and the mercenary must go to their house to see what the job is (it is not written in the letter, as letters can be intercepted).

I'll give you an example of each type of job. The message board jobs are things that really any level mercenary can do for some quick cash. About $3,000 - $7,000 They usually include things such as animal hunting for cults, escorting people through dangerous areas, bodyguarding, even sending messages across the land. Which would of course require a mercenary to have some mode of transportation, me? I have a ship, a horse, and I am also an incredibly swift runner. These jobs are light work. A job sent as a letter to the safe house is something that only specific mercenaries can do, the client chooses the mercenary themselves. These jobs are where the big bucks are made, I have gotten anywhere from $10,000 to $10,000,000 for these jobs. But in exchange for the big paycheck is a lofty job. Usually involves targeting politicians, meddling with voting counts, stealing priceless family heirlooms back, protecting royalty traveling across the country, and sometimes even targeting other mercenaries.

As you can imagine I am doing very well for myself. But you will never catch me showing my wealth off. I came from nothing, when I was about 9 years old my village and nearly everyone in it, including my family and friends were massacred by the invading Kingdom of Dolhr. For many years I fended for myself, eating only a few times a week. I was humbled, because most of my childhood consisted of me wondering if I would be able to eat tomorrow.

I consider myself a good person even though mercenary jobs are often illegal and horrible. I tend to stray from the awful ones and only accept the jobs that I think are righteous and fair. For example, I will not take a life of an annoying neighbor (yes I have been asked to do that) but I will to a slave trader. I have a basic set of morals that I learned through my childhood experiences that I will never break. The biggest one being that I will NEVER harm a woman. I do not care, if she has a knife to my throat. I will never harm a woman. My respect for them and all of the sacrifices they make run deep into my core. Now do not get me wrong, if there is a woman out there that I was getting paid to target, and she was some kind of kitten eating pedofile. I would take her out, because to me that is not a woman, that's a monster. To me women are intelligent beings that selflessly sacrifice so much everyday, despite being ridiculed and itemized all the time. I could go on and on, but I won't so, your welcome.

Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about now that you have all the background was the letter I received today. It was a parchment letter and on it in beautiful calligraphy was written: "Hello Navarre, Do you remember me? - Lena" Underneath this sentence was an address and a photo.I am used to letters being very broad, but this was only one sentence! I thought this was a prank at first, that was until I looked at the photo. It was a photo of a girl with long red hair, fair skin and a silky white blouse that covered her entire body. The weirdest part was the fact that I vaguely recognized her but I couldn't place where I had met her. But I knew, I had seen her before.


	3. Flashbacks: Lena's POV

It has been so long since I have seen my little mercenary. I'm not sure if he will even remember me. Ever since he escaped from my training facility and disappeared into the real world, he has been so elusive. Even my best trackers couldn't keep up with him, _sometimes I just make them too good._ I still remember the day I first took him in, he was so mysterious, strong, and beautiful.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` flash back ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

I scrambled down the cathedral supports and out the large oak doors, after my young rescuer. Once outside I looked around but my stomach sank when I didn't find him. _Navarre, where did you go? I need you!_ Slowly, I trudged along the desolate streets of Archannea back towards my carriage. As I sadly walked I noticed the survivors from the cathedral being herded to safety by a small child. _There was only one kid in the cathedral with me, only one kid in this entire kingdom who would have known about these survivors!_

Pulling a bobby-pin out of my hair I quickly used it to weaken the fabric of my dress so that I could tear holes in it, then I dipped my hand in some nearby dirt and spread it on my clothes, arms and face, finally I tousled my hair and ran towards the small child hoping I looked like a terrified and stranded citizen seeking refuge.

Holding my breath as a ran would help me appear to look out of breath, clumsily I sprinted towards the small boy when suddenly my foot met with a rock and sent me tumbling towards the cobblestone ground. Screaming I held my arms out and shut my eyes, bracing for a fall that never came. Once again, cold hands had secured themselves on my chest.

I felt the cold air fill my lungs and release as a hot sigh out of my mouth as I took a deep breath of slow my racing heartbeat. Between me and the hard ground stood none other than Navarre, his arms raised over his head to reach my torso, stabilizing me. Ever so slowly, he turned his eyes upwards towards me and his smooth marble-like face crinkled into a small smirk. I just then realized what his hands were latched onto in his attempt to keep me from falling. Flushed, I shoved his cool hands off my chest, straightened up, and crossed my hands over my chest in a protective stance.

"Are you usually this clumsy or are you just having an off-day?" Spoke a deep voice below me. It took me a minute to respond, how can such a young child have a voice that deep?! Of course it didn't sound like an adult's deep voice, but it was still pretty deep for a child. I wouldn't be surprised if he grew up and had a low baritone voice.

Suddenly I was filled with anger and disgust at being groped by this child. How could he touch me like that?! Did he have any decency or respect towards women at all?! I know he is a young orphaned child, but even children don't run around grabbing any pair of breasts that come near them! I reared my right hand back and slapped Navarre straight across his right cheek, he could have easily dodged it but he didn't move. My hand collided with his cool cheek as his face snapped to the side. Instantly I regretted my impulsive outburst, he was only a child after all. Plus he just lost his entire kingdom to a war.

"Oh Navarre, I am so sorry! I-" A small hand was placed over my mouth, silencing the rest of my sentence. Looking into my eyes with his lifeless grey ones, Navarre spoke "It was either I catch you, or I let you fall face first into the cobblestone and split your head open." I took another deep breath to calm my nerves once he removed his hand and blankly watched my face.

"Navarre?" I asked cautiously. A small nod from the young boy indicated that I had his attention, I continued with my proposal.

"I have a favor to ask of you."

"What kind of favor?" Navarre asked back, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

" I own a company that trains exceptionally talent young boys like yourself, we turn them into warriors."

"..."

"I want to enroll you into my training program and become another one of my warriors."

"What's the point?"

"I can make you strong enough to get revenge on the people who hurt you and took your home, I can make you invincible. People will fear and love you like a god."

Navarre looked over my shoulder at his destroyed home and sighed sadly, "there is nothing left for me here. I agree with your terms, lets go."

Placing my hand on the small of the younger boy's back, I led him back through the kingdom. His eyes sadly glided along the abandoned streets, and rested on the old basketball that had now stopped rolling uselessly down the street and was now floating in the waters of a broken fountain. This was a hard sight for anyone, let alone a child. But this is the reality that Navaare would grow up with and I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy, tragedy always created the best and most heartless mercenaries! If I play my cards right and train him really good then all of my rigorous (and borderline torturous) programs, plus the desolation of everything he has ever known, will result in a very lucrative addition to my company.

Eventually we made it past the broken stone arches and out of the borderlines of the kingdom, towards my carriage. "Go inside Navarre, and don't look so sad. I am going to make you invisible and then nobody will ever be able to hurt you or anyone you care about ever again." I said, tucking the boy's hair behind his ear. Navarre simply nodded and climbed into the carriage, pulling the door shut behind him. Once he was settled inside the carriage I strode to the front where I found two of my lower level mercenaries grabbing a quick power nap. I had a nasty habit of buying, using, and selling mercenaries. This was what begun my company and the continued efforts are what kept it running, when my mercenary does a job some of the money goes to me and my company, that way on top of the income I get when people rent or buy my mercenaries. I get even more, everyday when each of my men take jobs. Plus most mercenaries do multiple jobs in one day - further adding to my substantial wealth. There is however one condition with my company, I always keep the prettiest mercenaries to myself and these two resting peacefully against my carriage were some of my prettiest.

One was tall and thin, he had soft pale skin, full lips, and beautiful ivory effeminate eyes. Long white hair fell in curls around his face to rest just above his chest, which rose and fell silently as he slept. The other was big and burly, he had a more tan color than his partner, clean cut beard, and wind swept hair on his head that leaned over his forehead in a slight bang. Tattoos of naked women, swords, and snakes caked his entire body. This one wasn't as graceful when he slept, he had is mouth open and was snoring loudly.

"Lycon?" I purred running my fingers through the thinner man's silvery hair. Lycon tensed and then stirred in my hand before finally opening his eyes looking up at me with a soft smile. "I thought you'd never return." He whispered.

"I will always come back to you, now get up I have a new trainee and we need to get him home."

Giggling he stood up and allowed me to fasten the harnesses from the carriage to him. Once I fastened the last strap across his chest, I let my hands roam around his torso and gently massage his tired shoulders. Slowly I snaked my hands up his body, and cupped his face before planting a gentle kiss on his lips; smiling as I felt him sigh in contentment.

Reluctantly, I released Lycon and went to sit on my second mercenary, Trader's lap. I ran my fingers through his beard and playfully tugged at it until he woke, and then just as before strapped him to the harness on the carriage. Just as I secured the last strap, Trader gripped me by the arm and pulled me into a deep and fervent kiss, before pulling away just as quickly as he started. "You should sit on me more often, I promise I'll make it worth your while." He taunted with a smirk.

"Maybe I will, but we have a new trainee and we need to get him home."

"He's not bigger than me is he?"

"Nobody is bigger than you!" I laughed, gesturing at his large physique.

"Just checkin."

"Now, before we get going shouldn't you greet your partner." I said watching him critically.

"Huh?... Oh right! I know what you want." Turning towards his partner, Travis gently ran his fingers through Lycon's hair and was rewarded by Lycon's gentle purring. Suddenly Travis, yanked Lycon into his chest by the hair and begun to make sloppily make out with him, tongue and all. I watched aroused not only by the scene in front of me but by the fact that it was my power and ownership over them and allowed for this to happen. After a minute or two, I pulled them apart and allowed them to catch their breaths before climbing into the carriage. They were breathing heavily and staring into each others eyes, I had to shake the reins a good three times to remind them that the carriage won't pull itself. Finally getting the message, they begun to pull the carriage along the road, I turned looking at Navarre. He was just sitting in the corner looking at his own feet, he looked so small and so miserable it almost touched my heart. _Almost._ Soon we will be at my base and then the real fun will begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ end flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boy was so young then, I can't wait to see what he looks like now. Hopefully he finds my letter and agrees to my terms, I want my favorite mercenary back.


	4. A Ride Through the Farm

I decided that I would deal with this strange letter another time, there is no payment with the letter so it is a last priority. Right now I have other paid jobs to get to. Walking out to my stables, I tucked the letter into Albino's bag. Albino is the name of my horse, he has been with me for a couple years now. The funny thing is Albino is not even a white horse, he is a black arabian; one of the fastest breeds in the continent. I stole him from a hoshidan king as a birthday gift to myself, when I turned 25.

Climbing onto my exotic steed, we rode into town towards the message board and my next paycheck. As we flew across the land, I closed my eyes; feeling the wind running through my hair. This was really the only time in my life where I got to just be alone with my thoughts, my horse never bumped when he ran, he was graceful and swift. If you closed your eyes you wouldn't be able to tell when he took a step, it felt like gliding.

As we rode I watched the birds in the sky, soaring free, their wings outstretched in the air. I watched the trees lean and groan in the wind, the leaves falling as we passed by. "MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPHHHH!" A loud muffled scream filled the once peaceful scene, birds and small animals took cover in response to the tortured sound. Albino stopped running with a skid and whipped his head back towards me, he knew what I was thinking. We had to go save that woman. "Go" was all the horse needed to hear me say as he took off towards the heart wrenching noise.

It was coming from a farming plantation over to our left, however it was midday and so the plantation was busy with workers and farm animals. I like to think of myself as a gentleman. I believe that women should be protected by men, not preyed upon. I make it a point to protect and treat every woman that I interact with respectfully, that being said there was no time to be respectful to the women working in the fields. This gentleman is going to have to run straight through the plantation to get to the victim in time, by her screams and cries it sounds like the attack has already begun. So, we jumped the fence. Workers cursed and ran as we ripped through their newly grazed fields, dodging large equipment and cattle. The woman clutched their children and cowered as the men threw pitch forks at us; we had to keep moving. Albino grunted as he crashed through the back fence, setting the work horses free. They ran alongside us in their attempt to finally be in the wild, riders began running around with lassos trying to get their horses back.

My head jerked back and my airways blocked as I felt one of the lassos latch onto my neck. I gasped as more lassoes found their way around my neck, digging deep into my skin; causing my flesh to burn and blister. I clutched onto Albino as hard as I could, every time that horse jumped over a cow or sharply turned to dodge equipment, the bonds around my neck seemingly got tighter; causing the feeling of one thousand needles in my throat to intensify, as well as the stretching of the skin just below my chin. With my right harm pulling at the bonds around my neck, my left tried fruitlessly to reach the dagger slung to my back. Suddenly a third lasso found its way around my neck, it pulled me so violently that my body flew backwards. I was now laying on my back on top of Albino, both hands struggling to remove the lassos with no chance of reaching my dagger.

Above me I could once again see the birds flying freely, with no bonds. One of the birds dipped lower revealing its glossy black coat, _a crow._ My brain seemed to fill up with fluff as I remembered a dark mage that I had met once in my travels. His name was Henry, he was a very strange man who had turned mad due to excessive torture in his growing years. He was always dressed in all black, with skin white as snow, his hair as white as foam, charmed rings, bracelets, and amulets always adorned his body and a crow was always there; perched on his shoulder. He had asked me to retrieve bear balls, lion's liver, and an eagle's throat for a potion he was working on. I remembered sitting together in his tent as crows flew around dropping ingredients into his potion, some dropping themselves as sacrifices. A deer stirred the large pot with a ladle from his bag. Now the thing about Henry is that animals listen to him, but not because they liked him; it was because he gave off this aura that would compel an animal to forget about their natural instincts and serve him. He had so much dark magic around him that it compelled the animals to become his slaves. While his potion was being brewed he had asked me if I wanted to learn the secret of controlling animals but I had declined, thinking it was stupid. I had my horse and that's all I really needed, I didn't need my house becoming a zoo. How I wished I had said yes to his offer, I would love for that crow above me to just swoop down and cut these lassos.

I pitifully stared at the crows above, hoping that they would get the message and help me; but I was no animal-whispering dark mage. No crows would be coming to my rescue today. Suddenly my entire body was violently jerked forward against Albino's neck and amazingly all of the lassos loosened their grips. I gasped and sputtered, trying to get as much air down into my abused neck as possible; It was then that I realized Albino had stopped running. He has seen the state I was and had turned around so violently that he had pulled the lassos right out of the rider's hands; also resulting in them being pulled off their horses and onto the ground. Albino stood over the riders in neighing loudly and brandishing his front legs - challenging them to get up. The riders raised their arms and quickly backed away. Snorting and turning around Albino began to once again run towards the now-silent woman.


	5. Rescuing a Hoshidan Woman

About a mile away from the farm Albino finally slowed to a trot, we had reached our destination. It was a Nohrian campsite. Sliding off my horse, I tied him to a nearby tree and climbed the tree myself to get a better view of the camp. There were 3 armed soldiers patrolling around a large vertical post, where a young woman was tied up. The poor thing had cuts and bruises decorating her body, her long blue hair was cut and disheveled, and her lapis eyes sadly gazed at the ground, black tears stained her face. _This is disgusting, nobody should be strung up and used like that. Like a piece of meat._ Swiftly and silently as a cat, I hopped down the tree and concealed myself in some nearby bushes.

I like to wait until an unsuspecting guard isolates himself to take a piss or something, then I would jump them and hide the body. Silently picking them off one by one is the perfect way to cause a panic, a guard that is panicked by the disappearances of his comrades is more likely to make a mistake.

"Did ya hear about Denny? His wife is pregnant, we're throwing a secret baby shower tomorrow." said one armed guard to his partner as they unknowingly passed the bush containing a thoroughly pissed off mercenary. "Man that's too bad. Poor Denny can kiss a good night's sleep away!" the second guard joked; stopping dead with his back to me, his pistol just inches away from my face. I sucked in my breath, knowing that if I as much as breathed too loud, I would be discovered. There was a rustling noise to my left, as I turned towards the noise I noticed the third guard, entering his tent for an on-duty nap. This idiot has finally isolated himself.

Slowly sneaking my leg backwards, I inched away from the first two guards and approached the tent in the back; squinting as twigs and leaves grazed and scratched my face. But as I crawled towards the tent, a twig had snagged itself into my belt. The twig stretched as the mercenary crawled further away, completely unaware of his predicament. Crack! The twig had reached its limit and had snapped off the branch, whipping the mercenary in the process.

Wincing at the unexpected and sudden attack, I quickly flattened myself in the shrubbery, as the guards' heads jerked back to see where the sound had come from. As the guards approached, I focused on keeping my breathing steady and keeping my eyes closed. People have a funny way of knowing when they were being watched.I bit my lip to stop from groaning when a guard unknowingly stepped on my hair, pinning my head to the ground. I drew blood from my lip when a second guard had stepped heavily on the back of my hand. The guards were standing on top of the mercenary's body and surveying the horizon.

"Must have been a rabbit," said the first guard.

"I should blast that little shit for scaring me like that!" Scolded the second guard. Lowering his knee unknowingly onto the mercenaries back, his eyes swept the land for any sign of an unlucky rabbit. I silently thanked Naga for this dark night and my dark hair, allowing me to camouflage with the night-time terrain. The mercenary relished a sigh as the guards removed their crushing weight from his body. Wincing, I lifted myself onto all fours. The sore in my lower back throbbing madly and my hand as red as an apple

One guard approached the woman and began to pull on a rope. She wiggled as she was lowered to the ground, into the second man's arms. Fresh tears fell down her cheeks, as the man began to whisper in her ear. As soon as the second guard put his hand on the woman's waist, something broke inside of Navarre. With the speed of a jaguar he pounced on the second man, and shot an arrow at the first before he even knew what happened. In the blink of an eye, both men were on the ground. Their faces neutral, the mercenary was so fast they did not even have time to be surprised. The girl screams into her gag, as the mercenary approaches.

"Don't worry!" Navarre said, putting his hands up. "I am not here to harm you, I am rescuing you." The woman's muffled screams turned into muffled crying, as the mercenary moved his skilled hands around her several bindings. Gently, all ropes were taken away and the woman was freed once again. "Oh!" She cried, clutching the mercenary tightly. As she wept, Navarre held her tight, he patted her back affectionately whenever he felt a particular horrible hiccup. The sun was starting to come up when her sobs finally slowed to a halt; "What happened to you?" asked the mercenary.

"Th-they wanted to sell me!" whispered the woman. "They t-took me from my home, said I was pretty and that I could get them a lot of money." She gulped, Navarre squeezed her shoulder; telling her it was okay to move on.

"I d-didn't know what they were talking about, I told them to lea-leave me alone but they wouldn't stop following me. I ran and ran until I couldn't see them anymore. I thought I got away, when out of nowhere a bag was thrown over my head!" Once again the woman was sobbing, unable to continue her story. It broke the mercenary's heart to see someone so hurt. "Listen." said Navarre. "It is all over, those bastards that captured you are dead. You are not going to be sold to anyone." As a reply, the woman clutched his shirt in her hands and continued to sob silently into his chest. Noticing the gleam of a wedding ring on her finger, the mercenary continued. "Tell me where you live, I'll take you there and stay with you until your husband arrives; if he's not home."

"No no it's okay, you don't have t- What happened to your neck?! " The woman asked, starting at the mercenary's neck.

"Don't worry about it, im fine. Now please tell me where do you live?"

Ignoring his question completely, the woman reached out a shaky hand to touch the abused neck. The mercenary winced and recoiled slightly as soon as her finger met his warm skin. "Really, I am fine. Don't worry about me." Navarre muttered.

"Why don't you come into my home and I'll get you some tea?"

"You are kind, but I have to decline. A mercenary's life is a busy one and I have more jobs to get to today."

Frowning, the woman gave Navarre the address to her home and together they rode Albino to the destination. Her husband answered the door in a cold sweat, he had been searching all over for her and was taken aback to find her entering with another man. Navarre did not flinch as a fist was brandished in his face, by the angry husband. "And what were you doing with my wife?! Were you the reason she was gone for so long?! Did you take her?! Did you hurt her?! Because guess what buddy, anything you did to her I'll do right back to you!"

"I just rescued her from a Hoshidan camp." Navarre replied calmly. "She was about to be sold for slavery." With a nod, Navarre turned his back on the open mouthed husband. "And don't worry about paying me. No charge for this one."

"Thank you! I hope your neck feels better!" the wife called, after Navarre.

Climbing back onto the back of his trusty steed, Navarre set off once again. Now it was time to deal with this Lena person. The note she sent him, told him exactly where she lived. After riding for almost 2 hours, Albino slowed to a stop. Navarre's jaw dropped as a looked up at the massive fort before him. _She must be some kind of royalty to afford a place like this! It's practically its own town!_


	6. The Fort

Navarre tied his loyal steed to a fence post and made his way towards the grand entrance of the mighty castle. The obsidian doors towered high into the air, and were flanked by two men. As Navarre approached the doors, he noticed a large leopard dozing nearby on a tree. Its tail swishing back and forth with the breeze.

"Well hello there handsome." said the thinner of the two mercenaries flanking the door, when Navarre approached. Navarre did not reply, he was busy taking in all of the details of the grandiose door. From its sleek obsidian body to the large mace shaped bronze knocker on the door. The thin mercenary looked to his companion uncertainty, surly the Scarlet Sword was not a mute? Lena would have mentioned that…. Right? "My name is Lycon, and this is Trader. We are here to escort you to Lena?" said the thinner mercenary, placing a hand on Navarre's shoulder. This physical contact seemed to wake Navarre out of his stupor, and for the first time he really looked at Lycon and Trader. They were quite naked, both were dressed in white briefs, covered in hickies, and hand a silver device around their ankles.

"Where are your clothes and what the hell is that around your leg?" questioned Navare.

"Oh this little thing?" Replied Lycon. "It's a device that Lena uses to track us. She needs to know where we are at all times." Seeing the disgusted look on Navarre's face Lyon clarified; "It's for our own protection really, darling." Navarre moved away as Lycon attempted to put his hand in the mercenary's hair.

"And this is kinda like our home uniform. Were not allowed to have any of our gear on us, ya know, in case we go mad and decide to target the boss lady." Trader said, moving behind Navarre and placing both hands on the mercenary's shoulders. "If we need to go out to do jobs, then we get gear but otherwise it's just the briefs."

"You are going to have to lose that red kimono before you see Lena." purred Lycon. "She will want to see everything you got, and I have to say. I would like to see what you're packing as well." Lycon winked.

"Touch me and you'll lose a finger!" Snared Navarre.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Lycon looked to his partner behind the mercenary. "I did not want to do it like this handsome, but you really must strip." Before Navarre realized what was happening, Trader grabbed hold of the mercenary's arms and held them over his head by the wrists. Navarre grunted as he was slammed against the obsidian door.

"RELEASE ME!" Navarre yelled, as Lycon knelt down and began to undo the mercenary's belt. Lycon answered by placing a small wet kiss on the mercenary's navel and continuing to derobe him. Navarre struggled with all of his might against Trader's grip, but his strength was incredible. One by one, clothing articles were discarded. His belt, shoes, and socks were in a neat pile next to Lycon. Navarre flinched as his pants were roughly removed, cold air rushing onto the sensitive areas of his body. Lycon kissed his way up the mercenary's legs, towards his clothed chest. Navarre let out a cry of triumph, as his foot connected with Lycon's stomach and he shoved the aggressor back. Lycon let out a quite girly scream as he fell back onto the hard ground.

Before he could make his move on Trader, Navarre felt his head about to split. There was a loud high-pitched noise, coming from below. Lycon was blowing into a strange pink whistle. Suddenly, dozens of other mercenaries all dressed in briefs and metal anklets began emerging from everywhere. They all grabbed hold of Navarre's limbs and held him still, as Lycon rose to his feet.

"You know darling. I would spank you for kicking me like that. But i'll spare your tight little ass, because I am sure Lena will spank you for me." Lycon continued disrobing Navarre, until he was left completely nude. Navarre felt ridiculous. He was outside, naked, being restrained by a dozen mercenaries, as some fairy attempted to place a metal anklet around his struggling ankle. Finally with the anklet and the white briefs on, Trader put Navarre's hands behind his back and ushered him into the compound.

If Navarre thought the outside of the fort was impressive, it was nothing compared to the inside. The inside of the fort was adorned with gold, high ceilings, chandeliers, and several large fountains. There were mercenaries everywhere, all dressed in the same way. Women had a white cloth tied around their chest and a flowy semi transparent skirt that exposed one entire leg. Men were in just the white briefs. Everyone had the metal bracelet on their leg, and it seemed nobody had any weapons or gear. _Coming here was a bad idea._ Thought Navarre. Just like Lycon and Trader, everyone here was also covered in hickies. _Is this some kind of a sex dungeon?!_ Navarre did not like this at all, he began to struggle wildly against Trader's iron grip.

"Uh uh uhhh darling." purred Lycon. "You cannot struggle anymore, not since I have this." Lycon lifted a little remote and clicked a button. Immediately an electric shock tore up Navarre's leg, he could feel his muscles twitching as he howled in pain. The surrounding mercenaries glanced at Navarre with blank looks on their faces, and made no attempt to help. Finally Lycon turned off the shock anklet with a cheeky grin. "Did I mention that the anklet was also used to control naughty mercenaries?"

Navarre glared daggers at Lycon, who simply winked back.

"You won't be smiling for long, pretty boy." Navarre snarled. Smiling Lycon simply pressed on his remote again, sending Navarre into another round of agony. This time he rotated the nozzle and increased the intensity of the shock. Navarre began to see dark spots in his vision, and his throat ached from screaming. His muscles felt like they were on fire, but his right ankle was completely numb. Navarre took huge gulps of air, when Lycon finally turned off the shocker. He didn't even flinch when Trader reached over and grasped the mercenary's member, chuckling he said "you were twitching like crazy."

"Shall we continue?" whispered Lycon into the mercenary's ear. Trader released his grip on Navarre's penis and continued to urge him forward. Tired from the pain, Navarre forced one foot in front of the other. He glanced around the compound and noticed something dreadful. The mercenaries were not being treated with respect.. They were all acting like servants, cleaning, cooking, or lounging around waiting for their next assignment. Some mercenaries were actually clothed and carried expensive weapons but these were only ones that were either returning or leaving the fort - probably for a mission.

As they walk, they pass a glass room where inside Navarre sees children being trained by an older looking mercenary - the kids were all in the same demeaning dress code as the adults and by the looks of it were training to be mercenaries when they grew up. They pass through a balcony where Navaare sees stables and stables of the fastest and most expensive horses, mostly stallions and arabians. Finally, they stop in front of a set of huge doors that are being guarded by 2 large albino wolves. They stare at Navarre in the eyes but he doesn't flinch; he just stares back, Lycon comments that Navarre and the wolf have the same eyes. As they enter, the other wolf snaps at Navarre's leg but again he doesn't flinch

They enter the door and it is a large ballroom decorated in a way you would have thought a child lived there. There was a big pink bed, with a canopy around it. Pink curtains on the windows, a huge fluffy pink rug, pink couches that were covered in large plushies, huge glass doors that revealed a private fenced backyard where a pink (most likely dyed) horse trotted around.

"Welcome Navarre dear, long time no see." said a sultry voice from the bed. Lena rose from the bed in a stain nightgown, and ran her hands down the mercenary's chest. "I missed you so very much." Navarre gasped, as she began to suck on the skin between his chest. Leaving a small bruise.

"Who are you?" The mercenary asked tentatively.

"You don't remember me darling?" Lena softly whispers, biting his ear.


End file.
